Police: Triple-murder suspect in custody 10 minutes before attacks
Police had D'Andre D. Howard in custody on an outstanding traffic offense shortly before a deadly attack that devastated a Hoffman Estates family, officials said Monday.
Officers had no reason to hold Howard early Friday morning, but they say it was just 10 minutes later that he arrived at the Engelhardt home and got involved in an argument with his girlfriend that would end with three deaths and charges of first-degree murder.
Hoffman Estates police arrested Howard at his apartment on the 900 block of Evanston Street in Hoffman Estates shortly after midnight on an outstanding traffic warrant from Oak Park police, Lt. Rich Russo said. Police responded to the scene after they received a loud-music complaint from one of the 20-year-old's neighbors.
They ran Howard's name through the police database as a routine check and discovered the warrant out of Oak Park, Russo said.
Howard was arrested at 12:13 a.m. Friday, processed and bonded out at 1:20 a.m. Howard showed no signs of violent behavior, said Russo, who had no details on the warrant or the bond amount.
Prosecutors said Howard arrived at the Engelhardt family house about 1:30 a.m. and argued with his girlfriend, Amanda Engelhardt. Other family members came to help, and prosecutors say Howard used a butcher knife to attack Alan and Shelly Engelhardt and their 18-year-old daughter Laura.
Alan, 57, and Laura were killed, as well as 73-year-old Marlene Gacek, Laura's grandmother. Shelly Engelhardt, 52, remains at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates in critical condition, hospital spokeswoman Cyndi Alexander said.
Distraught relatives listened tearfully in a Rolling Meadows courtroom Monday as a Cook County judge ordered Howard to remain held without bond in the slayings.
Howard was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated unlawful restraint in the three deaths and one count of attempted first-degree murder in the attack on Shelly Engelhardt.
In addition to the no-bond ruling, the judge ordered that Howard have no contact with members of the Engelhardt family. The judge also granted prosecutors' request to take DNA, footprint, palm and fingerprint samples from Howard to compare against evidence found at the scene of the slayings in the Engelhardts' home.
Howard has had several run-ins with the law. Also, a former girlfriend filed orders of protection against him in 2006 and in 2007, and he has spent time as an inpatient in a behavior treatment center, officials said.
Howard showed no emotion during the hearing Monday. His attorney, Assistant Public Defender Jim Mullenix, spoke with reporters after the proceedings.
"There is a plenitude of mental health issues," said Mullenix, a member of the public defender's elite capital defense unit.
Mullenix remained with his client while police took DNA and print samples.
"He's a little confused as to what's going on," but he cooperated fully with authorities, Mullenix said.
Records show that Howard resided at the Alternative Behavioral Treatment Center on Fairfield Road in Mundelein during 2006 and 2007. According to its Web site, among the services the center offers is a residential program for young men between the ages of 15 and 21 suffering from behavior, psychiatric and cognitive disorders as well as men exhibiting sexually abusive behavior.
As for his other criminal history, a former girlfriend from Fremont Township filed for an order of protection against him in Lake County in 2006. A judge dismissed the case after she and Howard failed to appear.
She filed another order of protection in 2007, citing threats she says Howard made against her and her family in 2006 as well as new threats, including calling her several times a day and entering her home on Jan. 8, 2007, records show. The 2007 order covered her, her child, mother, sister and grandmother.
Arrested on a misdemeanor criminal trespass charge, Howard posted bond. He called the girlfriend the next day and was charged with disorderly conduct and intimidation, also misdemeanors. A judge issued a warrant after Howard missed his August court date on the trespass charge.
Police picked him up in May 2008. Records show the trespass charge was dropped several months later. The intimidation charge was dropped in 2007.
Funeral arrangements for the Engelhardt family members are pending. St. Peter Lutheran Church in Schaumburg has established a fund for the family.
• Daily Herald staff writer Tony Gordon contributed to this report.
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